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Applying Student Apprenticeships to Address Workforce Shortages and Business Succession Challenges
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 Many growing businesses in rural communities are challenged with severe workforce shortages while rural youth believe there are not enough quality job opportunities available locally. The result is that both groups look to moving to more urban areas as possible solutions, resulting in out-migration and economic decline for rural communities. A related issue is retiring rural business owners not being able to find younger people with the experience and financial resources needed to buy their business and therefore closing the doors, putting additional stress on the local economy and the quality of life of residents who depend on these businesses. What if we could get ahead of these crisis issues by preparing young people for the specific career skill needs of growing local businesses and becoming future business owners with the experience and financial resources needed to be successful?
There are five key steps that economic developers, working in concert with business leaders and educators, can take to move in this direction:
- Interview business owners and managers to identify specific skill needs and job openings within the next five years.
- Inventory the skill needs and upcoming job openings, and provide this information to guidance counselors, business teachers and vocational program instructors who are working with students to identify their career interests.
- Utilize high school and college student apprenticeships to match student skills and career interests with needed business skills and potential job opportunities.
- Follow-up with business owners and managers to transition successful student apprenticeships to employee mentoring and skill development, potentially with scholarships for careers requiring certification or a degree.
- Build upon the mentoring and investment in young employees by business owners planning to retire by providing tools and strategies for transitioning business equity to employees so they are positioned to purchase the business at the appropriate time.
If your community is losing young people due to out-migration while local businesses are struggling to attract skilled workforce or find qualified buyers, please contact me at craige2mail@gmail.com to discuss how these steps can help you successfully address these critical issues.
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Latest e2 University Packages
Don't miss our e2 University resource packages:
In July we released our newest e2U package: Outreach, Intake, Screening and Referrals, which is part of the Working with Entrepreneurs package. Watch for more to be released from this package - Tracking, Portfolios, Metrics and Stories!
Contact Dana Williams (dana@e2mail.org) for more information, or visit our online store to purchase any of our resource packages today!
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